Letter to the Administration
We are angry.
We are angry and we are disappointed but we are not surprised.
TrinSurvivors has existed for over a month and still, we have yet to receive an update on the College’s plan to address our concerns/demands or publicly communicate how exactly they plan to move forward in eliminating the sexual assault epidemic on campus.
Almost three weeks have passed since President Berger-Sweeney issued a response to our list of demands and the stories of sexual violence on our page. In her letter, President Berger-Sweeney could not have more clearly demonstrated a lack of understanding of our message and our work.
Let’s break this down:
In her letter, President Berger-Sweeney encouraged survivors wishing to file a complaint or seeking assistance to:
“contact Trinity’s Title IX Coordinator, Rita Kelley, who can explain the process for filing a complaint.”
In redirecting survivors to the very same resources that already failed them and moreover, invalidated them, President Berger-Sweeney shows a blatant disregard for survivors’ safety, mental health, and general wellbeing. Trinity’s Title IX Coordinators, including sitting Coordinator Rita Kelley, have been responsible for retraumatizing survivors time and time again. This mismanagement is thoroughly detailed on our page and we have made efforts to emphasize that Trinity’s rape epidemic is not solely due to rape culture within the student body, but also due to institutional failure and misconduct.
Having a Policy on Sexual Misconduct doesn’t make the College immune from institutional failure. Having a Policy on Sexual Misconduct doesn’t mean that a rape epidemic does not exist on Trinity’s campus. It means that the College is complying with federal regulations that provide monetary and legal incentives for such compliance. So no, the existence of such a policy does not
“[underscore] the college’s dedication to addressing the abhorrent behaviors posted on @trinsurvivors.”
Policies without enforcement are nothing more than a shield from accountability.
Redirecting survivors to the Counseling Center similarly feels like a slap in the face. Patients of the Counseling Center, both survivors and students in general, have repeatedly faced a litany of inadequate practices. Scheduling appointments with any counselor is often difficult due to a shortage of counselors and their resulting lack of availability. Students are frequently turned away from the Counseling Center due to this unavailability, regardless of whether they have reached a crisis point, or they are told to wait two to three weeks for another appointment. Appointments for medication and medication follow-ups are only held on specific days of the week, which subsequently limits the number of students who are able to meet with the psychiatrist available for the week. Counselors have repeatedly “ghosted” (did not provide follow-up when follow-up was ensured) students in need of help. While this obviously isn’t the case for all students, the fact that the Counseling Center has treated ANY student this way should be alarming for every member of this community.
Asking survivors to use the very same resources that have repeatedly failed and retraumatized us is a blatant disregard for our wellbeing.
The College has a long-standing history of minimizing the issue of sexual violence on campus and reducing it to the common trope of “a few bad apples.”
We vehemently reject this idea and actively compile data from the submissions we receive. Our aggregate data on perpetrators includes (but is not limited to) information such as graduation year, athletic team membership, fraternity affiliation, other extra-curricular involvement, and current occupation. While we do not release identifying information, we continue to build upon our database by the day. We currently have 86 identified perpetrators who have collectively committed 119 assaults. Of those 86 perpetrators, 18 are repeat perpetrators. Two of these repeat offenders have over nine allegations each. Our 275+ submissions include allegations against students, faculty, and staff members at Trinity.
While on the subject of faculty and staff, we would like to make it known that the institution has failed to address the fact that one of their tenured professors faces nine different reports of harassment and/or assault.
On July 5th, we sent a letter to the Title IX Working Group regarding a comment made by a group member implying that the root cause of the rape epidemic at Trinity was not institutional failure but rather, peer pressure. In response, we went through every single submission we had received until that point and compiled a PDF document of all the stories that detailed administrative and/or institutional misconduct. Within this document, we included a submission regarding this faculty member with the following note:
**We usually do not disclose identifying information about an individual’s redacted name, however, we felt it critically important for the committee to know that this perpetrator is a professor at Trinity and to take this into consideration when reading how this case was handled. The idea that an individual in a position of power has been allowed to remain an active professor on campus is a serious safety risk for students.
We have since received a total of 8 more anonymous submissions detailing their own experiences with this professor and confirming his pattern of sexual harassment. This professor must be fired immediately.
The liaison later informed us that there was zero discussion of this faculty member, despite the fact we explicitly emphasized that we received nine reports of harassment and assault. This indicates to us one of two things: 1) That despite our insistence they read all the stories we provided them, not all the Committee members did not do so, or 2) The Committee did not feel it was serious enough to warrant discussion. To re-emphasize, this faculty member currently has nine reports of harassment and/or assault. Reports have been brought to mandated reporters whose response is frequently, “He is too well-established in the Trinity community for anything to happen so you’ll just have to finish the class and then avoid him.” Formal reports have also been made and yet, this professor still remains employed by the College. As long as this faculty member is employed by Trinity, he is a safety hazard for all students on campus.
Furthermore, we were recently made aware of some serious failures of Trinity’s current Faculty Manual that underscore Trinity’s efforts to protect faculty and staff perpetrators.
As stated on page 67 of the College’s Faculty Manual,
“A record of [a complaint against a faculty member] and any subsequent action will be kept in a file in the Dean of Faculty’s office and not in the Faculty member’s official Trinity College personnel file which is usually maintained in the Human Resources Office.” (Faculty Manual, 67)
One of the primary functions of a Human Resources office is to oversee various aspects of employment, including compliance with employment standards and with labor law. By exclusively maintaining records of faculty misconduct through the Dean of Faculty’s office, it allows for faculty perpetrators to maintain spotless personnel records, free of any and all complaints of sexual harassment. We understand that the materials of a case may be confidential and respect that, however, we feel strongly that any and all complaints against faculty members should also be kept in their personnel files.
As if this was not enough, the College goes a step further and states,
“this file will be destroyed by the Dean of Faculty three years from the date of a final resolution of the complaint.” (Faculty Manual, 67)
The Manual does not specify whether or not there are certain conditions that need to be met in order for records to be kept, therefore, we are interpreting this part of the Manual as stating that ALL case files involving faculty are eventually destroyed. By destroying documentation of complaints and/or case files after three years, the College erases evidence that can be used in establishing patterns of sexual misconduct that extend beyond a three-year timeframe. A student’s negative experience with a faculty member should not be discarded three years later. If a student feels unsafe in the presence of a faculty member, the administration should not have the right to erase their experience(s) in an attempt to deflect responsibility.
Students should not face a bill upwards of $70,000 in exchange for an institution that fails to support and protect them in their most vulnerable moments. Students should not go into debt for an institution that protects their abusers no matter who they are: students, faculty, or staff. Survivors should not feel as though their assailants are more valued than they are.
It has been almost three weeks since President Berger-Sweeney sent out a letter addressing our concerns.
In her letter, she claimed that
“members of the senior administration will closely review the list of demands and provide a response with planned action items in the coming weeks.”
According to President Berger-Sweeney, this action plan
“will address campus culture, including the classroom, Greek life, athletics, and student social life in general, and the need to build trust in our Title IX process.”
We want to make it clear that our demands and concerns go far beyond “the need to build trust” in the College’s Title IX process. This phrasing accurately identifies that survivors do not trust the process but fails to specify the reason why. We will state it clearly:
Survivors do not trust Trinity’s Title IX process because it has repeatedly failed us and re-traumatized us in our most vulnerable moments.
We have yet to be contacted by any College official, though they have our contact information and are welcome to reach out to us. We have received no updates on the status of the Working Group and the status of the action plan mentioned by President Berger-Sweeney. It has been over three weeks since the last update from administration and with each day that goes by, Trinity’s silence grows louder.
We refuse to go away.
We refuse to let Trinity’s inaction deter us from our efforts to acquire justice for all survivors who have been failed by the College. We refuse to settle for hollow promises and deflection of responsibility from the administration.
Let us be clear: We are not going away. We will do whatever it takes for our concerns and our demands to be taken seriously. We will do everything in our power to ensure that survivors are protected at Trinity. We will continue fighting until we create the change that is so desperately needed.
